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Houston has earned the dubious distinction of being one of the most economically segregated metro areas in the country, according to a study conducted by Richard Florida and ​covered in The Atlantic Cities.

Houston was ranked the No. 4 most income-segregated large metro in the U.S. That means, by Florida's calculations, that Houston has one of the highest shares of upper-income households — or households of $100,000 in annual income or more — living in neighborhoods with a majority of upper-income households as well as lower-income households — with an annual income of $34,000 or less — living in neighborhoods with a majority of lower-income households.

This isn't just seen in Houston; Texas pops up all over this top 10 list. San Antonio was ranked first, Dallas ranked eighth and Austin ranked 10th.

That's a problem, Florida writes, because economic segregation can concentrate public services and funding such as better schools, parks and policing in higher-income areas. As lower-income children are raised with less access to opportunity, patterns of economic inequality are locked in place and social mobility suffers.

Florida's analysis used data modeled after methodology the Pew Research Center used in a 2012 report. That report found the share of lower-income households in majority low-income tracts nationwide increased from 23 percent in 1980 to 28 percent in 2010. The share of upper-income households living mainly among themselves increased from 9 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2010.

In Houston, 24 percent of the area's upper-income households resided in a majority upper-income tract as of 1980, and Houston's concentration of lower-income households in majority lower-income tracts increased from 25 percent in 1980 to 37 percent in 2010, according to the Pew report.

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